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Could 3D Printed Schools Bring About a ‘Transformation’ for Education in Africa?
Under the scorching heat, women danced and sang in jubilation as children from the village of Salima, in central Malawi, started their first day at their new 3D-printed school, which had been built from the ground up in only 15 hours.
Run by 14Trees is a joint venture between Swiss cement manufacturer LafargeHolcim and British development finance agency CDC Group. The Managing Director of 14Trees, Francois Perrot said that the project was faster, cheaper, and less energy-intensive than conventional construction. Adding to this, he said that this success shows that 3D printing could be transformative in Africa.
UNICEF estimates that there is a shortfall of 36,000 primary school classrooms in Malawi itself. And Mr. Francois Perrot estimates that this gap could be closed in 10 years using 3D-printing technology. “Based on our calculations if we rely on conventional methods it would take about 70 years to clear that backlog,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an email.
3D printing is gaining momentum across the globe, with some projects producing a home within 24 hours for a few thousand dollars.
Before building a school in Salima village, 14TressBy the time 14Trees had built the Salima school – which the company says is the first 3D-printed school in Malawi – it had already printed the walls of a prototype house in the capital Lilongwe in just 12 hours, compared to almost four days using conventional methods.
As well as cutting the time it takes to build a structure, 3D printing also reduces the number of materials needed and the amount of carbon emissions produced by up to 70% compared to conventional methods, Perrot said.
Studio Mortazavi, a global architectural firm and another entity trying to solve that problem. They have designed a 3D-printed school in Fianarantsoa, a city in southern Madagascar, for the U.S. nonprofit Thinking Huts.
Cost
Tom Bowden, a trustee for Britain-based charity Building Malawi, said the technology holds promise in parts of the world where lack of funding can often stall or kill essential infrastructure projects.
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